Public comment will be accepted on these documents for 90 days, through February 21, 2013.

Public comments will also be accepted at two public meetings set for Tuesday, December 11, from 7 to 9 p.m. at the Fine Arts Building at the Redwood Empire Fairgrounds, 1055 North State Street in Ukiah, and on Wednesday, December 17, from 7 to 9 p.m. at the C.V. Starr Center, 300 S. Lincoln Street in Fort Bragg.

Agencies involved are the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the National Marine Fisheries Service, the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, and the California Department of Fish and Game.

Printed copies are available at county libraries, including the Willits library at 390 East Commercial Street. The drafts are available online at www.fws.gov/arcata or http://swr.nmfs.noaa.gov/nepa.htm.

Mendocino Redwood Company is the largest private timberland owner in Mendocino County, with about 228,000 acres of timberland, most of it west of Willits.

As part of the habitat conservation plan, Mendocino Redwood Company has applied for "take" permits for forestry related activities on 213,244 acres in Mendocino County, as well as "incidental take permits" for nine species listed as threatened or endangered under the Endangered Species Act. Species include the California red-legged frog, northern spotted owl, marbled murrelet, Point Arena mountain beaver, coho salmon, chinook salmon and steelhead.

Under the terms of the proposed 80-year permit, Mendocino Redwood Company can operate in compliance with the Endangered Species Act, as long as the company implements the mandated overall conservation and mitigation measures developed in the habitat conservation plan. According to the agencies, these plans "benefit threatened and endangered species by providing an incentive for landowners to integrate conservation measures into the management of their lands."

After a habitat conservation plan is adopted, public comment on individual timber harvest plans for the 80-year duration of the permit is limited to whether or not the proposed logging is or is not consistent with the approved property-wide plan, unless there are new, unanticipated and significant changes that would require revisions to the overall plan.